Shoe heater



June 3, A1930. M 3b JENNlNGs 1,760,905

SHOE HEATER Filed Nov. 124, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l ,2966?(76732239 di', Z

June 3, 1930. M. Q JENNINGS 1,760,905

SHOE HEATER Filed Nov. l2, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l y', f ZZJ,

0I Z' @uw 7W ma@ p Patented 'June 3, 1930 UNITED STAT-Es* PATENT-orner.

IIELVIN 0. JENNINGB, l' LEXINGTON,' MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIIG'N'OR T0 HABBY-H.

' BEGKWITH, 0F BROOXLINE, MASSACHUSETTS snor. HEATER Appumion mea mvember 12, 192s. serial No. 674,314.

This invention relates to shoe heaters such as are commonly employed for stieningpbox toes comprising thermoplastic materialso that they may be made to conform to the lasts when the shoes are being made. The thermoplastic material of which the stiieners are made must have asuiiciently high melting'point to maintain its sti'ness under all L conditions to which a shoe is normally ex- 10 posed. It is therefore necessary to subject the partially :formed shoe, in order tolsoften the box toe suiiiciently to form it about' the last, to a tem erature which is excessive for the leather. gl posed to direct moist vapor into contact with the leather while the stii'ener is being heated in order that the leather may not `be damaged.

lt has been proposed to provide a water supply tank or reservoir forvthe vaporizer which will feed water automatically as required to fthe heating unit. l'n practice, hown ever, trouble has been experienced 'from the failure of the operator to notice when the supplyof water has hecome exhausted. 'lhe parts of the vapori-.zer are thus liable ,to become oyerheated. and when cold water is then supplied breakage or other damage to the hot parts is liable to occur. Where an electrical heating unit is employed in the vaporizer, it is liable to be burnedout after the water supply has become exhausted.

An object ot this invention, therefore, is to provide mechanism acting` automatically when the supply of water in thetank or reservoir is yexhausted or nearly exhausted for cutting ed the supply of energy to the water heating unit.

Further objects and advantageous and combinations of parts will appear from a more complete description of an embodiment of this invention shown in the accompanying drawings in which l Figure 1 is a front elevation of the heater.

Figure 2 is a detail section on line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing a shoe in position.

Figure 3 is a detail section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary rear elevation of the heater showing the parts'in position when or this reason it has been pro- I details the supply'tank has an adequate supply of water.

Figure 5 is a similar view partly broken away showing the position of t e arts when the supply of water is exhausts Figure 6 is a diagram of the electrical connections.

The heater comprises 'a base which is adapted to be supported from a bench or' table by any suitable means such as standards 2 shown in Figure 1. This base comprises an open topped receptacle 3 along' one side, one side wall 4 being laterally extended to form a shelicl portion 5L Below this shelfportion and substantially parallel to the outer end thereof is a lower wall 6, this lower wall and shelf deiiningtherebetween a dry heat chamber 7. End walls 8 bridge over the ends of the receptacle 3, the shelf 5 and the lower wall 6 and at their ferwardpends each is provided with a pair of inwardly direct/ed spaced ribs 9 between which may be engaged a front wall member 20 for a purpose which will lat/er he described. The receptacle 3 is provided with a cover 10, which has downturned bead 11 along its rear edge which may rest on the upper edge of the rear wall 12 of the receptacle EL Ends 13 of the cover are arranged to tit within the end walls '8 of the base memher, the ends 13 having downwardly extending portions 14C entend- .ing into the receptacle 3 to retain the cover memher in proper relation to the receptacle. This cover member has its top wall orwardly and upwardly inclined as at 15 to form with the shelf 5 a vapor passage leading from the receptacle 3 forwardly and into which the toe portions of shoes to be treated may be inserted through suitable apertures in the front Wall 20. y

The construction and arrangement of the casing walls and heating elements herein shown form the subject matter of a divisional application for patent Serial No. 292,732

filed July 14, 1928, for shoe heater.

Within the chamber 7 is positioned a heating unit 40' of any suitable description. Herein shown this comprises an electrical heating-unit in the form of a loop which is supported hv blocks 4:1, each carried at the,

ggg

upper end of a stud 42 fixed to the lower` wall 6 of the chamber. Nuts 43 are threaded on these studs and the blocks 41 rest thereon, the upper ends of the studs passing into suitable perforations in the blocks. By manipulation of these nuts 43, therefore, the unit 40 may be adjusted vertically toward and from the plate 18. By this means the amount of dry heat to be conducted to the shoe may be adjusted.

lVithin the receptacle 3 is a second electrical heating unit 50 which is designed to be immersed in water supplied to the receptacle as will later appear.

The receptacle 3 is of comparatively small capacity so that little Water is heated at one ltime and the vapor is produced quickly when desired. For this reason it is necessary to provide a water supply since the water in the receptacle 3 would soon be driven oil causing danger of overheating` of the unit as well as of failure of moisture to protect the leather portions of the shoe. For this purpose the base member l has extending rearwardly therefrom a trough communicating with the receptacle 3 through an opening 5G. This trough is designed to receive water from a supply tank which may conveniently be of the barometric feed type comprisinga tank having a nozzle portion 6l through which it may be filled, the tank being inverted when in use so that the nozzle portion projects into the trough 55 to approximately the desired level of the water in the receptacle 3. This construction provides an automatic feed of the water to the recept-acle 3, but it has been found in practice that such tarks as heretofore used may become emptied without the operator being aware ot the fact so that there is danger of the supply to the receptacle 3 becoming exhausted whereupon overheating of the unit 50 may occur. Under these conditions if it be attempted to supply cold water to the receptacle 3 damage to the hot parts is likely to result even if the hcat ing unit 50 is not burned out or otherwise damaged by the excessive heat to which it is subjected when it is not immersed in water.

For this reason the present invention provides means by which as the tank becomes emptied to a certain point, the supply of energy to the heating units is automatically cut ofi". At the same time a visible indication is given of the condition of the water supply so that the operator can not well be unaware of the situation. The tank 60 is arranged to be inverted and held by asupp-ort which has an extension 66 pivoted on a pin 67 to the trough. One side of this support, as at 68, is upwardly extended and forms a weight which imparts a bias tending to tilt the support about the pivot 67 into the position shown in Figure 5. The tank' 60, however, when filled with water and inverted on the support 68 has its center of gravity on the opposite side of the pivot pin 67 from the weight 68 and is of sucient weight to maintain the support 65 in horizontal position. As the tank becomes empty, however, the Weight v68 overbalances the tank and water, and causes the bias to be edective to tilt the support and tank into the position shown in Figure 5. `When this tilting occurs the nozzle portion 6l is raised upwardly from the trough 55, thus permitting the water above the upper end thereof to spill out into the trough thus raising the ievel of the water somewhat in the receptacle 3. This occurs until the level of the water in the tank lowers to the lower edge of the inside of the nozzle as shown at a in Figure 5. This tilting of the tank furnishes a visual indication to the operator of the fact that the supply ot water is exhausted, and according to this in vention it is also employed to automatically cut off the supply of energy to the heating units. This is accomplished as follows. The trough 55 has an extension 70 within which is positioned a push button switch having the off button shown at 7l and the ou button shown at 72, this switch controlling the supply of energy to the units 40 and 50. Fixed to the portion 68 of the tilting support is a member 73 so positioned that when the support is in tilted position, it strikes the off.button, thus openinff the switch. The on button 72 is engaged y one end of a lever 74 pivoted at 75 to the portion 70, and this lever` has a lost motion connection to the tilting support so that when the support is moved to horizontal position the Ilast portion of this motion acts to depress the on button 72, thus closing the circuit through the push button switch to the heating units. shown this lost motion connection a wire 76 pivoted at 77 to the opposite enti of the lever 74, the upper end of this wire bein formed as a loop 78 in which rides a pin 9 extending between a pair of earr projecting laterally from the member i Before the support reaches its horizontal position this pin 79 engages the upper end of the loop 78, pulls upwardly on the lower end. of the lever 74 and depresses the push ha# ton 72.

In Figure 6 is shown the electrical connections to the units, b and o representing the ends of the dry heat unit 40 and d and e re presenting the ends of the unit 50. These unit ends are connected by bus bars f and g to which energy is supplied from the source it, the push button switch is indicated at c, and there may also be a manually controlled switch m. `The switch m being closed the supply of energy to the heating units is therefore dependent on the closing of the switch c which is automatically effected by the position of the tilting support which carries the water supply tank. The manually operable switch may conveniently be placed in comprises a box 85 at the end of the' base member 1 c, into which the ends of the heating units project and there may also be, if desired, a pilot light 87 therein, to give a visible indication of the condition of the energy supply to the heating units through a window 86.

Since electric heater units are used in the device as illustrated, in order to conform to the' underwriters rules, it is necessary to in. sulate the device from the ground. As shown this may be accomplished by the use of blocks 90 of insulating material, such as porcelain, and herein shown as cylindrical, each being seated in a socket 91 in the upper face of a frame member 92 carried at the upper ends of the standards 2, the base member 1 having socketed bosses 93, each constructed to engage over the upper end of one of these blocks. In order also that the device may be adjusted to a horizontal position when the supporting bench or table is not level, the upper ends of the standards 2 ma slidingly t in sockets 94 extendin upwar ly into the v -frame member 92 and be xed inadj usted po- 25 sition therein by means of set screws 95.

Each'st'andard 2 may also have thereon a vertically slidable collar 96 adjustably fixed by a set screw 97 immediately beneath the frame member 92 as a further means of holding this frame member in adjusted position.

The receptacle 3 may be drained of water when desired, for this purpose a drainage opening 98 being shown on Figure l which may be'closed bya threaded plug or to which afsuitable valved connection may be attached.

Having thus described an embodiment of this invention it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might bemade therein without departing from its spirit or scope as defined by the appended claims.

I claim: K,

l. In a shoe heater, al receptacle, a heating unit in said receptacle, a tank arranged to supply water automatically to said receptacle, an energy supply or said heating unit, and means for automatically cutting ed said unit from said energy supply when the water in said tank reaches a predetermined low level.

2. in a shoe heater, a receptacle, an electrical heating unit in said receptacle, a tank arranged to supply water automatically to said receptacle, electrical connections to said unit including a switch, and means acting to open said switch when the water in said tank reaches a predetermined low level.

' p i shoe heater, a receptacle, a heating said receptacle, a source of energy 'iid nnit, a tor automatically supg water to said receptacle, means acting osition to the weight oi the tank and ter therein to remove the tank 'from al receptacle supplying position and ci@ sn'ticient strength to overcome the weight of the tank alone, and means for cutting o said unit from said`source when said tank removsaid support and arranged to feed water to said receptacle, the weight of said tank and water actlng in opposition to the bias of said support and ablev to overcome said bias only when there is at least a predetermined amount of water in said tank, and means actuated by the movement of said support to tilted position to cut off said unit from said source of energy. e p i 5. In a shoe heater, a receptacle, an electrical heating unit in said rece tacle, a switch for controlling the supply ed) energy to said unit, a water supply tank, a tiltable support for said tank biased to tilted position, the weight of said tank and the water therein acting .in opposition to the bias and being. sulficient to overcome said bias only when there is a predetermined amount of water in said tank, and means whereby said switch is closed when said support is not tilted and opened when Ysaid support is tilted. A

6. In a shoe heatera receptacle, an electrical heating unit in said receptacle, a trough in communication at one end with said receptacle, a support externally pivoted to said trough in position to lie horizontally over said trough, but biased by its weight to tilt at an angle to the horizontal, a water tank constructed to fitin inverted position in said support and having a nozzle extending downwardly into said trough when said support is horizontal, said tank and support being so proportioned that when a predetermined amount of water is in said tank the hias of said support to assume its tilted position is overcome and when less than said predetermined amount of water is in said tank said bias is effective to tilt said support and tank, a push button switch controlling the energy supply to said unit, a member movable 'with said support and arranged to impinge on the ed switch button and open the switch when the support assumes its tilted position, a lever having one arm engageable with the on button of :said switch, and a lost motion connection between said lever and support acting' to rock said lever and depress said on hutten to close said switch when said support is moved to horizontal position.

i". In a shoe heater, a receptacle for water, means for heating the water, a harometric water tank-for supplying water to said receptacle, and means for automatically moving said tank to an abnormal position when the water therein has `heen reduced to a pren determined amount.

8. ln a shoe heater, a receptacle for water,

means :tot heating the water, a barometrie Water tankfor su plying Water to said receptaele, and a tiltmg support for said tank normally overbalanced bythe contents of said tank, but adapted to tilt when the contents of the tank have been reduced to a predetermined amount.

9. In a shoe heater, a receptacle, a heating unit in said receptacle, a barometric tank for supplying Water to said receptacle, and means m held against operation by the Weight of the tank and the water therein to permit the tank to remain in normal supplying position, and of sufficient strength to overcome the Weight of the tank, when the water is substantially exhausted, to move the tank from said normal supplying position.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature.

MELVN O. JENNNGS. 

